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A federal trial that began this week accusing Harvard of stacking the deck against Asian-American applicants is providing a rare glimpse into the secretive selection process at one of the country’s most elite universities.

Faced with nearly incomprehensible inflation — 32,714 percent as of Wednesday — Venezuelan officials thought they had a solution: They changed the color of the bank notes and increased their denomination. Then they said they would lop off three zeros. And when that didn’t seem enough, they announced they would cut off two more.

LONDON — “Brexit” hard-liners have been compared to frogs being boiled alive, unaware that the water is being heated gradually to lethal temperatures. The flames will be licking the sides of the pot this Friday for a critical meeting of Britain’s bitterly divided cabinet, and the question is whether the frogs will finally realize their plight and leap.

WASHINGTON — President Trump once told advisers to think of every day of his tenure as another episode in a television series. But with his landmark meeting with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, he seems to be eyeing a move up to the big screen. At least that was the impression from a faux movie trailer he had specially made for the occasion, depicting his first-of-its-kind encounter with Mr. Kim as a suspenseful, pulse-pounding thriller with nothing less than the future of the world on the line.

Even the most informed observer might struggle to know what to make of the summit meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong-un of North Korea. Colorful theatrics, such as a four-minute video that Mr. Trump showed Mr. Kim, gave the event an air of surrealism. Expectations ranged wildly, with Mr. Trump promising the deal of the century and many analysts fearing a blowup similar to what happened at last week’s Group of 7 meeting in Canada.

As host of “The Daily Show,” Trevor Noah comes across as a wry, startled and sometimes outraged outsider, commenting on the absurdities of American life. In the countdown to and aftermath of the election, Mr. Noah has grown more comfortable at moving back and forth between jokes and earnest insights, between humor and serious asides — the way he’s done in his stand-up act, and now, in his compelling new memoir, “Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood.”

RAFAH, Gaza — The seed that grew into Gaza’s Great Return March was planted Dec. 9, just a few days after President Trump announced he would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Palestinians long have held onto the dream of Jerusalem as our own capital, or at least as a shared capital in a country that offers equal rights to everyone. The feeling of betrayal and distress in Gaza was palpable.

For months, we had been tracking riots and lynchings around the world linked to misinformation and hate speech on Facebook, which pushes whatever content keeps users on the site longest — a potentially damaging practice in countries with weak institutions.

As soon as Cuba and the Obama administration decided to restore diplomatic relations, the curtain was suddenly pulled back from Cuba, a nation frozen out by the Cold War. But one mystery remained: While nearly everyone knew of Cuba’s president, Raúl Castro, his handpicked successor was virtually unknown.

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